Sermon: How did we get here?

            Our scriptures did not fall from heaven, 

pristine things untouched by the world in which they were written. 
Quite the contrary, 
Scripture is always compiled in a context. 

            The early Christian scriptures, the Greek New Testament, 
were written in large part in response to the destruction of the 2^nd temple in 70 at the hands of the Romans and the dispersion of the faithful out across the empire.
Out of distress—Gospel.

 

            Similarly, the Hebrew Scriptures were formed during the Exile some 650 years before the New Testament
—the time after Jerusalem was burnt,
the temple sacked, 
the King and his sons all killed, 
everyone who could read or write in Judean Society 
kidnapped and taken away to Babylon.

            Off in Babylon these people tried to write themselves into freedom… 
the priests codified the Torah, 
the Prophets collected their writings that stood the test of time, 
the Court Wisemen penned Proverbs 
and the Musicians scored the Psalms in a final form. 

 

            And the Historians… 
(these historians we’ll be looking at for the next 3 weeks)
They compiled a series of Holy Histories 
looking back at the way of life the Babylonians had eradicated
—The King and his Prophets, the Priests and their Temple.

            And they grasped at some profound questions:

-How did we get here?

-What were things like before our system exploded? 
-What was it like before that system existed?

-What was it like to live at a hinge of history—between one way of life and another? 
Because what we’re doing here in Babylon seems just as important!

            With the hindsight of history, what should we be looking for, now?

 

Prayer

How did we get here?

            There was a strange way of being a people, before the monarchy. 
12 tribes loosely allied with one another
from Dan and Asher in the North, 
and Judah and Simeon in the South.

            They had a pattern (which you can find reading the book of Judges) 
of struggling as small separate tribes in a crisis, 
God calling forth a Judge: 
A charismatic leader, 
who united the tribes, 
and then when the crisis was dealt with, 
they all returned to a decentralized, Tribal, norm. 
Some people describe this as a Kin-dom instead of a Kingdom.

            By no means was this a good system of government
—just read Judges
—but it was a system that trusted on God for deliverance.

 

            Then along came a Judge named Eli, 
who had corrupt sons;
sons who tried to take over his Judgeship from him, 
as if they were princes inheriting a Kingdom… 
and God thwarted their plan by sending Samuel as Judge, in place of them.

            And then, as we read today,
Samuel’s sons too were corrupt, 
accepting bribes and embracing injustice, 
seeming to inherit Samuel’s position, as if they were princes.

 

            And to this, the people say, “Give us a King!”

            You can hear the logic of it, 
if Judgeship is already an inherited position akin to Kingship
—they let’s do it right, 
let’s be a people in the same way as our neighbors!
It’ll be stable, 
we’ll know who governs us,

we’ll know who is going to ride out to fight our battles for us.

 

            In their fear, 
or valid attempt to keep Samuel’s sons from the throne, 
the elders of Israel break with their decentralized, tribal, way of life. 

            Instead of waiting for God to topple Samuel’s sons, 
trusting that God would act as he did with Eli’s sons before them… 
            They instead embrace a centralized powerful figure as their sovereign. 
A decision with lasting consequences
—conscription of sons, 
taking of daughters, 
requisitioning of property and people
—all that. 

            But more importantly, 
the one who governs them, 
the one who fights their battles
—will no longer be God.

            God will no longer be the one who travels with them through the desert, 
but will be confined to a temple in Jerusalem.

            God’s prophets will no longer wander the highways and byways of the land whimsically popping up as unexpected and powerful ways, 
but will serve at court.

            Never again shall God call forth a Judge for the people.

            “How did we get here?”
Wonders the Holy Historians. 
            “Was it rotten from the beginning? 
Were we chosen kidnapped few, 
the elites sequestered in Babylon, 
supposed to ever exist? 
Or are we an appendage of an institution God that never wanted our people to embrace?

            With the hindsight of history, what should we be looking for now? 
How can we be faithful in a strange land, off in Babylon?” 
Asked those Holy Historians.

            Our ancestors were looking for surety and sameness, 
instead of the uncomfortable strangeness of the Holy.

            Their fear overcame their ability to trust in God.

            Perhaps we ought to trust God goes with us, 
even now, 
even here.

            Perhaps we ought to make peace with being different, 
embrace the plain truth that holiness means sticking out, 
being a little weird.

 

            That holy wrestling with the past, 
naming more clearly how we got here, 
even when it stings, or uncovers where we’ve fallen short. 
That is not a task for holy historians alone.

            How did we get here? 
What was there before the loss, before everything exploded? 
In hindsight what should we be looking for now? 
How is God at work in our midst now?

            These are questions worthy of any nation, or denomination, or congregation, or family, or individual.

Amen.